Main supervisor:
Co-supervisor:
Research interests:
Karan is interested in Climate Change prevention research, specifically renewable energy and atmospheric carbon dioxide removal. For his PhD, he is investigating both by combining geothermal energy with bioenergy and carbon dioxide removal, a net carbon negative process that increases renewable electricity and removes CO2 from the atmosphere over time.
Karan’s background in geothermal stems from his time at the Geothermal Institute in Auckland, both as a Masters student and Research Assistant. For his Masters project he conducted a numerical simulation of a geothermal field in Türkiye.
Additionally, Karan has studied other sources of energy such as solar, wind hydroelectric and petroleum.
Personal interests:
Karan enjoys volunteering and community service, novel writing, painting, poetry, kayaking, hiking, cycling, wildlife documentaries and playing Magic: the Gathering. He enjoys visiting beautiful parts of Aotearoa that were the film sites for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Personal or academic and or professional history:
Doctoral Candidate, University of Canterbury: 2021-present
Research Assistant, Geothermal Institute: 2018-2021
Master of Energy, University of Auckland: 2017-2018
Bachelors of Science, Colorado School of Mines: 2012-2016
Publications and conference papers by Karan
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control article (2023): Carbon negative geothermal: Theoretical efficiency and sequestration potential of geothermal-BECCS energy cycles
AGU Fall Meeting (2022): Leveraging Geothermal and Biomass Energy in Aotearoa New Zealand for Boosted Renewable Power and Negative Emissions
NZGW 44 (2022): Carbon negative geothermal: financial analysis for combined geothermal, bioenergy and carbon dioxide removal
The Conversation (2022): How NZ could become a world leader in decarbonisation using forestry and geothermal technology
NZGW 43 (2021): Carbon negative geothermal: theoretical combined geothermal-BECCS injection cycle
Articles about Karan
The student with a plan to burn forestry slash at geothermal plants | Stuff.co.nz
Carbon-negative technology could remove a million tonnes of CO2 a year | ENZ
